Elections to continue in Pakistan despite the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif's vow to boycott them. Republican Mike Huckabee is clueless about Pakistan. Your tax refund could be delayed due to Congress' late fix to the alternative minimum tax. UT won the Holiday Bowl and the sports world yawned. San Francisco zoo director Manuel Mollinedo claims that the tiger's enclosure fell short of the industry's safety standards. Is anyone else......

If you’re planning on attending the Austin Film Festival this weekend, you’re probably beside yourself with excitement about the lineup this year; with such highly-anticipated films such as Control, Juno and Reservation Road on the schedule, and appearances by legends like Oliver Stone and John Milius, who wouldn’t be? But one sorely-overlooked facet of the festival deserves special mention: the panels. Last year’s panel lineup featured some of the most powerful, if not famous, people......

[Ed.Note: Nick Courtright is a local poet and writer-at-large who took some time to share his thoughts on Akron/Family's latest release. We hope to be hearing more from him soon.] Bookended by tunes ripened on that great commune in the sky—a place where it's a good idea to feature the word "love" three times in a song title— Love Is Simple finds its true footing, and its ultimate salvation, in the middle. Powerhouse rock-out "Ed......

As most of us know, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) is making it harder and harder for Internet radio producers to finance their stations. Retroactive royalty fees and increased future fees are forcing webcasters into a corner: the fees increase both per-listener and per-song rates, and are based on audience size, increasing as listeners do. This proposed scheme would put public radio stations that stream their broadcasts and web-based radio programming at a great disadvantage......

Whenever we hear the word “pinball” all we can think of is drinking suicides in the game room at Mazzio’s Pizza and the lyrical wonderment of “that deaf, dumb and blink kid sure plays a mean pinball” from the Who’s Tommy. You may think of that one time, at Le Fun, when you pinged and flipped and bumpered your way to a tour of the Addams Family mansion, not knowing that you were conquering one......

Dan Rather delivered a keynote address yesterday to a packed ballroom in the Hilton downtown. Among other things, Rather suggested that modern journalism needs "a spine transplant." He also had some interesting things to say about the nature of journalism in general and why he thinks it is the way it is. One important point he made was that the term "investigative journalism" is redundant because journalism, when done correctly, is inherently investigative. Having......

Now in his fourth year as producer for the South By Southwest Film Festival, Matt Dentler might just be the busiest guy in the Austin film community. In addition to his year-round duties at SXSW Film, he's also a programmer for the mega-awesome Fantastic Fest, a curator for two national film distributors, an active blogger, television show host and occasional film festival panelist, judge and lecturer. And as if that weren't enough to keep him......

Everyone’s already crying about wristbands and how many pallets of stacked cash the sinister Black will be shipping off to his uncharted volcano island in the Pacific. What no one here in Austin wants to admit is that this festival is not for locals. I’m not willing to dig deep on this, but the festival itself is likely funded in some way, publicly. Why? ...

San Antonio trio Girl In A Coma is comprised of siblings Nina and Phanie Diaz, and complemented by childhood friend Jenn Alva on bass. The band’s energetic pop/rock has been seen on tour with the likes of Frank Black, The Epoxies, and The Eyeliners, with an upcoming gig opening for the Pogues announced this month. Also secured recently is a record deal with Joan Jett’s Blackheart Records, with their debut album expected sometime this......

We were so excited when Thomas Dolby graced our city with his presence last year, and when the prospect of an interview with the pioneer came our way last week, we literally planned our weekend around it. Now, the thrill has gone and we’re left with some wonderfully insightful responses from the master himself. Enjoy. And then jam out that Grammys performance again. Are you working on new studio material? When can we expect......

Whole Foods Market yesterday announced a merger agreement with fellow organic grocery chain Wild Oats Markets. The deal, worth approximately $700 million, will see the Austin-based Fortune 500 company effectively taking over and eventually rebranding most of Wild Oats Markets' 110 stores. Locally, Wild Oats operates as Sun Harvest Farms. "Wild Oats Markets and Whole Foods Market have both had a large and positive impact on the natural and organic foods movement throughout the......

Hometown rock stars I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness have finished two quick jaunts to Europe, are working on a new album, put together a terrifyingly beautiful music video for "The Owl" with Emmanuel Ho, and will be playing at SXSW. If you aren't already familiar with their unique brand of Peter Murphy meets Nick Cave inspired minimalist (but fist-flinging urban) post-rock, change your ways: you don't want to miss them live. Recently......

Welcome back kiddos, the year is kicking off with a shotgun bang. Head over to Waterloo or End of an Ear and ask for these albums: as far as we can tell, it's hard to go wrong this week. The Shins Wincing the Night Away (Sub Pop) Well, they're definitely stretching, and they're definitely getting more and more familiar with the studio, as "Phantom Limb" demonstrates: James Mercer is still having trouble falling asleep,......

Admit it, the hype is over and now you are just going to have to face it: for the rest of your life, you will use Google. Odds are, if you are the least bit tech-savvy, you use Google for email, maps, searching the web for news, images, video or our favorite feature, free SMS. The youth of America (who are being raised with google for brains) fully understand that the industry giant has......

For almost two decades, legendary jam band Phish made an annual tradition of throwing one of the best musical Halloween bashes in the land. The band went their separate ways at the dawn of the millennium, but former frontman Trey Anastasio carries on the tradition of bringing a spooky good time to his phans. While still heavily rooted in the rollicking rock and roll tradition, Anastasio’s band adds a bluesy feel not found in his......

The fellas from "The State" (Michael Showalter, David Wain & Michael Ian Black) joined the screenwriting duo who brought you Wedding Crashers (Steve Faber & Bob Fisher) and Jake Kadan (The TV Set, "Freaks & Geeks") Saturday to discuss writing R-rated comedies. Once it was established in the first few minutes that any more than 8 "shits" and 2 "fucks" would get you an "R" rating, the panel seemed headed for an untimely death. But,......

Stop by the Driskill Hotel to purchase movies passes or badges. Individual movie tickets can be purchased at the theatres. Sounds of Silence Documentary Feature Competition Screens: 7pm @ The Arbor [from AFF] Regional Premiere. Hidden beneath the alarming headlines from a totalitarian regime lies a bustling culture desperate for recognition at home as well as in the eyes of the wider world. This documentary offers a view inside Tehran and its burgeoning pop......

The Austin-made documentary Before the Music Dies has already attracted lots of attention from both audiences and critics. Now the music doc is attracting attention for an entirely different reason. Filmmakers Andrew Shapter and Joel Rasmussen have decided to forgo offers from Hollywood distributors in favor of inking a deal with Austin start-up B-Side Entertainment. B-Side is a progressive alternative to more established distributors in that they use a combination of on-line marketing and......

I swear, the last few previews are the hardest to write. It's not that I'm having trouble with them, it's just that I have SO much other stuff to do - shopping, packing, making sure I'm well-rested enough to cope with three days of non-stop awesomeness and the scorching heat that comes along with it. But my flight leaves tomorrow, so I promise I'll have the last few previews up by tomorrow morning when......

Mike Booher looks like a rock star until he smiles. Tall and lanky, shaggy black hair, smoking a cigarette outside his practice room, he is a throwback to the Ramones. Then he grins, waves, and he’s the friendly guy everyone loves. Who just happens to be the front man for Austin’s much-hyped Zykos. Originally from Houston, Booher grew up on the same street as bassist Mike Roeder and keyboardist Catherine Davis, a petit blonde piano......

It is not too-terribly-often that we get a really big name in comedy here in Austin. Maybe half-a-dozen shows a year. This is one of them. Paul F. Tompkins, of Mr. Show fame, is at our favorite comedy venue in town, the Cap City Comedy Club, through Saturday night. And his dry and acerbic wit will leave you howling. Don't let the feaux-smug and buttoned-down demeanor fool you, this guy is wild and not......

This might be old news by now, but last week PETA announced the winners of their annual Proggy Awards - recognizing animal-friendly achievements in commerce and culture - naming Austin-based Whole Foods their "Company of the Year." Lauding the organic powerhouse market for providing "variety and value in vegetarian foods as well as cruelty-free personal-care and household products," the animal-rights activists further cited Whole Foods' commitment to animal welfare: Even more important, however, is......

Cinephiles rejoice! The Austin Film Festival kicks off this Thursday, featuring a bevy of shorts, documentaries, advance screenings and parties! Of course, the festival is not just about watching movies; it’s also a fantastic opportunity for you wannabe filmmakers to hear from a slew of panelists about the craft of filmmaking and the industry in general. Among the distinguished panelists at the screenwriters’ conference are Judd Apatow (40-Year-Old Virgin, Freaks and Geeks, The Larry......

A 24-hour all-night nap has expelled my usual post-SXSW gloom, so we are able to see the events of the past week in full perspective. Every time we started grumbling about these foreigners invading our town, we caught ourselves, because we remembered that's one of the reasons we moved to Austin in the first place. We don't want to seem provincial now, do we? So then why do we still feel sour today? It's......